Circles of Change
by Malaki8898
Summary: The Colonials wage a war against a relentless alien race. Both Cylons and Colonials will begin to discover that this war is much deeper and widespread than they could have possibly thought.
1. Chapter 1

Circles of Change

Alien War- 8 Months and 4 Days/ Earth Date: April 15th, 2230

Lt. Kara (Starbuck) Thrace maneuvered her Viper away from the alien fighters. The orange sleek designed ships were firing at her with pulses of white hot plasma. They were somewhat slower than railgun rounds, which allowed her to dodge them as she accelerated to get away. As soon as she got within a safe distance she turned her Viper at an 180 degree angle and shot back and destroyed one of the fighters as she zoomed past the second. She thought the other craft was going to get her as she turned around until she saw the reddish rounds of Colonial railguns tear through the second alien fighter, destroying it.

"Frak Apollo, you stole my kill!" Kara laughed through the wireless.

"You looked like you needed to be saved there. Having fun?"

"Hearing nothing but the rain. Hey Apollo, my bird is getting low on fuel im taking her back to Galactica."

"Roger that Starbuck, the Pegasus and other ships are supposed to be joining us. I'm going to help out the others."

As Lee (Apollo) Adama turned his Viper around, he saw the huge battle scene played before him. Missiles were streaking out from the Battlestars Galactica, Columbia, and Achilles as well as five Gunstars and many other support ships toward two large alien cruisers and four smaller ships which returned fire with plasma and laser weaponry.

He remembered what caused the war eight months ago, the Battlestar Mercury was on an exploration mission looking for Tylium and worlds suitable for colonization when two large sleek round shaped yellow ships exited through odd vortexes.

The Colonial Science Directorate worked with the Colonial Fleet HQ and had a few lines in the Colonial Field Manual for First Contact situations. All it said was don't be stupid and don't do anything that could be a frak up.

The Mercury sent out signals in hope the aliens would respond in kind.

They sent out no signals, nothing.

The only response after a while was a few missiles, plasma shots, and fighters moving in to attack the Mercury. The Commander, James Kaller ordered the Mercury to jump, saving the lives of many Colonials. He immediately reported his findings to Fleet HQ and to President Adar.

Within weeks, every Battlestar Group was put on alert and all vessels in the Fleet, even those mothballed were now being refitted. The Galactica, instead of being decommissioned got a full refit and a full complement of MK VI Vipers. Commander Adama was placed in charge of Galactica, with Colonel Tigh as his XO. Fighting now for some reason seemed to be rare.

That changed however as the aliens discovered colonies away from the main Twelve Colonies, over eight months, attacks slowly grew. None of the main Twelve were attacked, only colonies in outlaying star systems were attacked, brutally in fact, as many colonists were found to be killed by either orbital bombardment or bio engineered plagues.

In response, the Colonies decided on the largest military buildup since the First Cylon War. Millions were starting to enlist in the Colonial Armed Forces, and shipyards were constructing more and newer types of Battlestars as well as many other support ships. Still, attacks against the Colonies were still small and quickly dealt with. Many began to ponder the size of their military, as none of their worlds were ever found.

All speculation that these were Cylons returned was crushed as several bodies were recovered from planets they landed on and fought against Colonial Marines. They looked like feline humanoids as they had longer hair, ridges on their foreheads and different organ structure and iron in their bloodstream.

None however had been captured alive.

Although it was known that the aliens were far more advanced, Colonial Commanders found ways to counter the energy weapons of the aliens by using more flak fields to disperse the energy before it hits the hull, as the armor could still amazingly take repeated hits before giving out. Many others devised and shared now common 'jump and nuke' techniques, as their armor could still be easily be taken out by nukes. Higher yield nukes were now being used to combat their larger cruisers. The other plus was that Vipers were far more maneuverable than the alien fighters. Everyone knew this war was only going to get hotter.

Battelstar Galactica CIC- Same time

"Mr. Gaeta, status reports now!" Tigh ordered

"Colonel, our vipers have destroyed the main wave. The cruisers are now moving in. They are launching missiles. Our Vipers are taking them out. Wait… picking up five more contacts on DRADIS. It's the Pegasus and her fleet.

"Thank the Gods she's finally here. Launch whatever nukes we have left and destroy the frakkers." Commander Adama said

Everyone was happy that Admiral Cain jumped in with two Battlestars and several other Gunstars with her group.

The Battlestars launched missiles and railguns toward the alien ships as they concentrated plasma fire and particle beams on the Gunstars. As the dense armor of the Battlestars helped against the energy weapons and missiles of the alien ships. Skilled commanders also utilized heavy flak fields to help disperse plasma and laser energy as to diminish it before it slammed against the hull.

The Galactica launched three nukes toward the largest of the ships. Fighters tried to shoot them down but one got through and engulfed the ship in a nuclear fireball, destroying it and many fighters nearby. Concentrated plasma beams took out two Gunstars, but not before their missiles detonated into a critical area, destroying the ship.

Vipers managed to out maneuver the alien fighters and took out many of them as well as their bombers and smaller frigates. As nuclear missiles from the Artemis streaked out toward the remaining cruisers, destroying one more and damaging another one.

What happened next surprised them, the ships started to open orange vortexes and leave. They rarely did this unless they knew for certain they would come back in force another day but it still left the Colonials in surprise even as they cheered in victory.

TBC

**Chapter 1- Starting Fires**

Eight Months Ago::

Commander James Kellar watched in the CIC of the Battlestar Mercury, which was part of Battlestar Group 31. It was not unusual for a Battlestar to be given orders to help scout out a system before people would be mining there, as there was always potential problems from pirates, scavengers, and possibly Cylons.

Their mission was to head toward system YJ-15521, a system that had huge potential as a Tylium mining facility. The other two ships were Colonial Surveyors, ships that were sometimes used by the Colonial Science Directorate and by the Colonial Fleet, but were purely for scanning and scientific missions.

"Commander, all ships are reporting green lights. We are ready to jump." Mr. Fazon, the ships tactical officer said.

"Tell the fleet to jump. Let's see what's out there."

The Mercury, the first ship of the Mercury Class Battlestars jumped along with the two Surveyor Ships and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Commander we are in the system. DRADIS is picking up no contacts other than the Surveyor ships that lift with us."

"Good, send out a Raptor Patrol, have them assist the Surveyors and keep a watch out for any suspicious activities."

"Yes sir, patrol is now prepping for launch." He said looking at the DRADIS screen on his console as he saw unusual readings. "Commander, DRADIS is picking up a large energy spike several hundred kilometers ahead. Visual scans show some kind of weird frakking vortex, now two contacts appeared. The Surveyors just halted and the Raptors are standing by."

"Cylons?"

"I doubt it Sir, ships are not matching any known configuration. I'm transferring video feed to your station."

Commander Kellar watched as the video showed a large orange vortex appearing and two sleek looking yellow round ships exiting, with black markings on the hull. He felt undoubtedly that these were aliens.

"What are the ships doing?"

"They are holding position Sir."

"Call the Viper and Raptors back to the ship and have them to a CAP around us. Order the Surveyors to keep their FTL spun up until we see what's going on. I want a channel open, all frequencies and languages."

"Channel is open sir." The Communications Officer, Lt. Brandts said.

"Attention unknown vessels, this is Commander James Kellar of the Colonial Vessel Mercury. Please state your intentions."

"Sir, I am not picking up any signs of wireless communication at all from the ships. However photographic scans from the Raptors reveal several weapons running across the hull. Commander, their weapons are pointed right at us!"

Commander Kellars words were blocked as the ship rocked from being hit.

"What the frak was that?" He yelled

"They are firing some kind of energy based weapons sir. DRADIS now reads multiple contacts coming from the ships, some appear to be fighters and others are missiles. Vipers are requesting permission to engage." Mr. Fazon yelled.

"Tell them to frakking engage already, bring all batteries online. As soon as they're up fire. Tell the Surveyors to jump out of there." Colonel Morris his XO said.

The Colonial Surveyors disappeared in a flash of light as they made their FTL jump out of there. The Mercury's flak and point defense fired as the alien fighters went in to engage the enemy ships. Missiles streamed out from the Mercury to the alien ships that attacked her. The missiles hit, tearing holes in their armor as missiles and energy weapons from the alien ships struck the Mercury, scorching the armor and rocking the ship again.

"Tell the birds to return, we cannot stand much longer out here. As soon as the birds are back jump out of here." He said over to tactical.

As the point defense cannons tore through the alien fighters, the Vipers and Raptors returned to the flight pods. As soon as every Viper and Raptor that was not destroyed was accounted for, the ship disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared next to the Colonial Surveyors.

That was the start of it all.

Battlestar Mercury- Present day

Commander Kellar remembered everything that happened. A Board of Inquiry found that he did nothing wrong during the incident and was hailed as a hero for saving the lives of his crew and that of the Colonial Surveyors.

Now his ship was meeting with Admirals and Commanders from two other Battlestar Groups, Admiral Nellis from BSG 43 and Admiral Correr from BSG 25. As his ship docked at Scorpion Station 45, a large space station in the Scorpia System located near the 5th planet of the system, while Scorpion Fleet Shipyards was orbiting the 4th world; many systems had multiple space stations and shipyards to accommodate the large Colonial Fleet including any civilian ships.

As soon as they docked, Commander Kellar walked toward the conference room where the meeting was to take place. Sitting down at the front of the table was Colonial Fleet Admiral William Donalds, one of the highest, second only to Colonial Fleet Secretary Adam Brandenwie. He stood at attention, saluted, and sat down. He felt something big was going to happen, so he watched the others come in and perform the same routine as him.

"Hello everyone, as you may all know, you heard of the engagement between the aliens and Colonial forces at the Darlden System, attacks have been getting a bit more commonplace, albeit a bit more slowly. I have discussed the situation with Fleet Secretary Brandenwie and President Adar, and together with a meeting with others of the Admiralty, a plan came up. Each of you, as head of your Battlestar Groups will be given a fleet of extra support ships and Gunstars, and go into the general direction the attacks are coming from." He said as he got a map out of a several hundred lightyear area of Colonial space in conjunction with the rest of the galaxy and showing a circle of where contacts with the aliens have been reported.

"It appears they seem to test our borders, carefully plotting and exploring and using more ships to attack us. We have only lost seven Battlestars and 40 other ships since this fraking war started, it's a good thing our leadership can come up with the stuff needed to beat them. Gauis Baltar was able to deduce that their armor is weaker than ours and that attacks concentrated on certain points can destroy their ships. Flak fields have been used to somewhat disperse their energy weapons by 40%." He said again. "Along with support ships you will be given Boarding Transports containing Colonial Marines." He added

"You want us to capture one of their ships don't you?" Admiral Correr said in a thick Gemonese accent.

"Yes, we also believe that there should be several staging points along this line of systems. If any of you get a chance to capture a ship, take it. If you have any prisoners or ships, send a small escort back to Colonial Space and our boys will take care of the rest."

They talked among other things, and after a few hours they all left to their ships to group at Ragnor Anchorage to fuel up and get extra ammo and munitions as well as an extra stockpile of nukes for their ships.

Operation Star Storm was now underway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

Alien War 8 Months and 16 Days

Admiral Cain walked toward the CIC of the Pegasus. She had read reports of alien activity in the Polarn System, which she remembered had the ice planet she heard Adama crashed on while a battle between the Galactica, Columbia against the Cylons there, it was where operation Raptor Talon took place, the last battle of the war. Soon afterward, several small outposts and stations were established for some research on life on Polarn IV, the same ice planet Adama crashed on decades ago.

"Admiral, we are continuing to receive reports from the outposts of random energy spikes in the outer edges of the system, and there were sightings of vortexes as well." Colonel Belzen said as he approached her.

"The alien's edge closer and closer to the colonies every day Colonel. This system is just nine lightyears away from Gemenon." She said to him as they approached the CIC.

As she entered the CIC the other officers greeted her and she stood near the Command and Control station. She wanted to check out the first Warstar that was to come out, it was a pure battleship carrying heavier weapons and a larger compliment of Vipers and

She was also proud of the dedication of her Battlestar Group, which held fifteen ships; eight Missilestars and seven Gunstars as well as a few medical ships and recovery vessels. Most Battlestar Groups carry the same amount or more depending on the mission.

"Admiral, we are ready to jump at your command."First Lieutenant Billy Jeners said as a long beep sounded signaling the FTL system being primed for jump.

"Let's see what's out there." Admiral Cain said as the whole fleet jumped at the outer edges of the system.

The fleet appeared around the eighth planet of the system, a gas giant with rings and a visible asteroid field nearby where most of the readings of unusual activity were taking place.

"Tell the fleet to begin a DRADIS sweep. Send Raptors and a Viper squadrom out to the outer edges of the system." She ordered as everyone watched some of the DRADIS screens.

Caprica City, Caprica Mercury Labs- Around the same time

Mercury Labs was a station near Caprica City dedicated to the research and study of technologies. It was one of the labs that helped create the artificial intelligence for the Cylons many years ago. Now it was being used to help figure out some of the technology of the aliens.

Gaius Baltar watched the news on his lunch break, the reporter for Caprica 7 News was showing some of the video of battles between the Colonial Fleet and alien forces. He already had a few theories about the spatial vortexes the aliens use to travel relating to an old Colonial theory that was rarely tested. He would report them to the Colonial Science Directorate that was helping to study some of the debris from the alien ships.

"I see that you're having a good lunch Dr. Baltar." Someone said, as Gaius turned to see it was President Adar and a few of the Secretaries including the Secretary of War Samuel Hardson and the Secretary of Science and Technology Jonas Quinmary. "How is your work coming along?"

"Good to see you sir." Gaius said as he shook the hands of the President and his Secretaries. "I have some theories about how the aliens move about in their vortexes. They will be presented to the Science Directorate as soon as I finish work on them." He shut the television off as he walked with them to a lab that studied one of the debris.

"Their ships are powerful, energy weapons are only in test phases and that's just lasers designed to shoot down missiles. I have authorized increased funding to the Advanced Weapons Systems that are to be integrated into our Battlestars and our future Warstars. Our first Warstar should be up and running in a year. You should check her out." Samuel said looking at various drawings and pieces of debris. "What have you learned so far?"

"Their metals are not really as strong as ours. Their weapons are, but we designed our hulls to take on nukes, so our armor can withstand repeated hits from their weapons before giving way." Baltar said looking at gun camera footage of one of the battles playing in the background that a scientist was watching.

"It's at least a good thing our batteries can rip through their ships pretty well. I heard you had several guesses as to how their vortexes work." Samuel said

"Well, I've remembered long ago reading up on old FTL theories. Our drives work by using a wormhole that expands around the ships and transporting them instantly. Their drives might work on a similar principle but open a wormhole and keep it open near the ship long enough for them to enter and stay in another dimension until they can open another vortex back into normal space." Baltar said

"Old Hyperspace theory, I read about that during high school in our wormhole physics class." Adar said remembering some highlights of the class that was a required course in his high school.

"Yes the theory states that gravity will affect other dimensions, and if you count hyperspace as such, then it's possible they might have explored this region and found us."

"Then it's a good thing our FTL gives us an advantage, we can go anywhere and get there quickly. I have scientists working around the clock on counteracting their weapons, including biological ones. You heard about the loss of the Eris V outpost?" Samuel asked, the Eris V outpost being a relatively new colony on the outskirts of Colonial Space.

"Yeah, the colonists were infected with a biogenic plague, it killed them off we don't know how they could have managed to do so without capturing humans to experiment on. How could they infect our colonists without prior knowledge of human biology?" Baltar asked having some knowledge of biology as well as physics and computer science.

"We suspect that they have found a few scavenger or pirate vessels and captured them, this is supported by captured fugitives and known pirates on the outskirts of Colonial space that have turned themselves in or gave tips.

"Mister Secretary are we going to get more defense satellites up soon?" President Adar asked looking at Samuel grimly.

"We got Scorpion Fleet Shipyards and the Dust Fields Shipyards constructing satellites with our upgraded railguns and coilguns.

"What is the status of the Command Navigation Program?"Baltar asked as he was pulled from the program and into the ones of studying alien technology.

"That program is being put on indefinite hold until we can find a better way of fighting back against this enemy. We need our resources for better weapons and ships as well as better armor. Gaius we also need you at one of our meetings with some of the Admiralty."

"Alright then, Ill present my findings to them."

Viper Patrol 122- Near the asteroid field of Polarn VII

Lt. Nathan Thomas looked at the DRADIS console on his Viper as he looked at the asteroid field around him. He radioed to Capt. Lewis (Firestorm) Ferran

"Hey Captain, I'm not seeing frak out here. Maybe we should finish our run and return to Pegasus."

"Negative pilots keep an eye out, we have three more hours of fuel left, and we need to make another run."

Lt. Sara (Hectate) Sniffen looked out the window of her Viper as she kept seeing a glimmer of grey reflected light every once in a while, like the feeling that the light wasn't somehow right.

"Captain, I'm seeing something to the starboard side deeper into the asteroid field, I'm going to check it out." She said noticing the object didn't show up on long range DRADIS scans. She assumed the asteroid field must be distorting readings.

"Roger that Lieutenant make sure you stay in wireless range."

She pulled her Viper to the right and went deeper into the asteroid field, dodging some of the smaller debris that lined the area. As she got closer she noticed it shadowed some of the larger asteroids, and noticed the grey metallic surface of the craft. She maneuvered her Viper into a crater on one of the larger asteroids as she noticed it turn in a direction that would take it near her.

She also noticed as it grew ever near it had a sleek shape with what looked like old insect pincers in front, twice the size of a Raptor. Another vessel of the same shape and size was close by. One of the ships suddenly pulled toward her and fired a shot near the asteroid. "Oh frak me!" She yelled as she pulled up and out toward where the Vipers were going on patrol as the two ships closed in. The asteroid exploded as a missile struck it, sending several pieces in different directions. She dodged the fragments that went near her Viper.

"Hey we have multiple contacts inbound. I need some frakking help here!" She yelled as she dodged plasma bolts and lasers. She flipped the Viper so that she was facing the ships and fired a missile into one of the asteroids, sending some of the debris into the alien ship's hull.

What she saw next stunned her; five other Vipers came in and tore the rest of the ships to shreds as the railgun rounds and missiles penetrated into the armor of the ships, ripping one in half.

"Lieutenant the Pegasus is in trouble several large alien ships appeared right on top of her and are engaging the fleet." Captain Ferran said. Sara pulled her Viper back toward the fleet, as she saw the Pegasus and several Gunstars and Missilestars engaging a large fleet of alien ships including the ones that were considered the heavy cruisers of their fleets, the sleek oval shaped orange and black ships as some of the energy weapons tore into the hulls of the other ships.

She looked on her DRADIS and noticed that a large amount of fighters was near and she left to engage them, noting they had wings and what looked like engines attached so she could easily shoot them off. She saw a Missilestar, the Hemesta explode as a large particle beam cleaved into her. People were screaming over the wireless as the ship went in flames. She paid attention to the fighters in front of her as she fired bursts of rounds into the ships, tearing into them and sending others back toward her. Missiles struck the others, disabling one and detonating another.

She saw the Pegasus turn and gave one of the heavy cruisers a broadside of the larger main guns; as they visibly streaked toward the cruisers and detonated inside ripping the front end clean off as the rest exploded. One of the Gunstars fired a nuke at one of the smaller ships, sending debris into the larger fighters they had launched, destroying them. Some of the other fighters got caught into the firing solution of the Pegasus and were shredded. She noticed the Pegasus take a beating from one of the larger orange ships as a large red beam tore straight through the starboard flight pod almost severing part of its connection with the main hull.

Sara turned her Viper toward the large alien ship as energy weapons were scorching the hull and flight pod visibly. She saw one of the fighters pursue her toward the larger ship. She dodged the plasma that came awfully close to her cockpit. She flipped the Viper around and fired a burst into the fighter's wing, sending it curtailing into the yellow alien vessel. She saw air and fire pour out as the fighter crashed into the frontal hull. She fired her last missile into the same spot hoping to get more penetration into the hull.

She jolted her Viper in shock as the entire ship started to split in three from the missile, sending multiple debris, some glancing off the wingtips of her Viper. Sara . She hit the afterburner and flipped, seeing large fragments of the ship float off glowing in large areas because of fires and air escaping into space.

The Pegasus turned to face its forward guns toward the last orange ship and fired a salvo as she took hits from the laser and plasma fire that scorched and burned holes into the armor and flight pods. The shots from the main guns tore into the side of the ship as missile detonated inside, blowing the large ship to pieces.

As the ship exploded Sara took her Viper to the middle of the alien's formation as Vipers and Missilestars started to take care of the smaller ships. She fired a salvo of her remaining missiles at one of the grey ships that was the same type of the one that chased her several minutes ago. She saw the air and fire escape as the rest of the ship exploded.

"That's the last of the frakkers. All of the stragglers have been taken care of. Let's head home guys. We're done here." She heard one of the Captains say as all the Vipers were seen heading into the flight pods.

CIC Battlestar Pegasus- Around the same time

"Colonel Belzen, report!"

"Admiral, we lost five of our Missilestars and six Gunstars. Out of two hundred Vipers that took part in the engagement we lost fifty. Two Gunstars are adrift and we are sending Raptors to look for any survivors. One of the alien ships left in a vortex and the rest are piles of debris Sir."

"What about us?"

"There are several fires throughout the ship as well as hull breaches along the flight pods. Some of their particle beams cleaved right through them Sir. We lost at least a couple hundred, some of our gun batteries are out of operation. We will need at least a few months in drydock to recover."

"Would be nice if they had a continued military presence in these sectors." She said looking at readouts on DRADIS and several other screens. "Have our salvage ships pick up survivors, send a Raptor to relay our situation to Gemenon, so they could send ships our way. Once that's done lay in a course for the Gemenon Fleet Shipyards."

"Yes sir." Colonel Belzen said as the crew looked at the cringed expression on her face.

Scoutstar Angelwing- System YJ225

The Scoutstar design was based off of the old Stealthstar design used for deep infiltration and utilized the latest in state of the art stealth technology and observation equipment. It could not be detected by any ship and was completely black hull design to make sure it was hidden even in the depths of space. It utilized the configuration of a double decked Raptor and the hull materials of a top of the line Stealthstar

Captain William Derana looked at the DRADIS in the observation deck of the Angelwing. He looked at the advanced infared telemetry coming from one of the moons orbiting a gas giant. Commander Keller ordered him to scout here after Raptors noticed the possibility of ships going in and out of the sector.

He saw two things, a large heat signal on the dark side of one of the moons that was obviously artificial in nature, and a large structure being constructed in orbit of the same moon, it was of four large pylons that were extending outward from an almost central point. Another large structure was nearby which looked to him like an oversized wireless tower. Vortexes the aliens use were also spotted and photographed off in the distance.

He looked at another more recent photo which showed what looked like a large station with multiple ships docked nearby, which orbited another moon of the same gas giant. Other crew members reported two other stations orbiting the planet as well, both smaller and had ships going in and out of the gas giant.

"Lieutenant Phocia, prepare to jump back to the Mercury so we can present our findings." He ordered, being satisfied with the reports and findings.

Battlestar Galactica- Around the same time

Commander Adama watched as Colonel Saul Tigh entered his quarters. He looked over again the orange folder marked ::Confidential:: and looked at some of the text from the most recent orders.

The Galactica, after engaging the aliens docked at Saggiteron Fleet Shipyards to repair the damage suffered during the battle.

"I seen a few of Admiralty walking around the past couple days. They don't walk around for nothing. We remember what happened last time we saw them Bill."

"Yeah, thank Gods we got ourselves out of that frakking mess when it happened. I really didn't feel like doing early retirement."

"At least we got Galactica back. Take a look at this." Adama said handing Tigh the orders. He looked through them for a couple minutes; Adama noticing his eyes getting wide in some spots, especially as he looked at some of the photos.

"We're being assigned to Admiral Nagala?"

"That's not all of it. Look closely at the photos."

"Looks like a listening post. When did these come out?" Colonel Tigh said looking at several pictures, some of an orange vortex off in the distance and of the large diamond shaped structure. The hull markings were very similar to the alien's hull designs.

"This happened near an outpost when one of the Raptors misjumped and ended up there. The outpost commander informed the Admiralty in the highest priority."

"Our last mission with the Admiralty was a royal frak up Bill. It caused one of our best pilots to get killed."

"I have different expectations of this one. The Admiralty wants to conduct stealth missions in and around the area.

"They've have got to be out of their fraking minds if they want us to do another Stealthstar mission last time they did that it caused one of our best pilots to get killed and they covered the Gods damn thing up to save their skin." Saul said angrily remembering the mission into Cylon territory.

"Were not trying to find out what the Cylons are up to. This is not the enemy we fought over thirty seven years ago. The rules are different now."

"Which pilot do you think we should send up there first Bill?" Tigh asked, starting to think better of this mission having remembered the incident with Bulldog years ago.

"I think Lieutenant Thrace would be a good candidate for our first mission. I would have to talk to Nagala about it."

"That woman thinks she's a frakkin hotshot because she's one of the best Viper pilots we have." Saul said remembering the card games which turned into drunken fights.

"Both of you need to watch you're drinking, and maybe simple card games won't turn into an officer brawl." Adama replied knowing Kara was a good pilot, but not punishing her severely as she should have been because of her status and of her friendship with Adama as well after marrying his son Zak.

"I will do that." Saul said thinking of his wife's behavior as the primary cause of his heavy drinking. He tried to put it past him to concentrate on his duties as XO.

"If you have any recommendations on who would be good candidates for these missions I would like to hear them." Commander Adama said changing the subject.

"Major Spencer has flown stealth missions, his records show experience in it. I read of his missions in the Delos system finding a large amount of pirate and drug activity there which allowed the Triton and a police escort to clear it out."

"I read his reports too; we should get a list of pilots we think can be up to the task and present them to Nagala when we see him tomorrow. The Atlantia will dock at 0700 hours and we will meet with him at 0900 hours, I'll put out a schedule for all pilots to read. We start missions as soon as our ship is back in shape."

"I will get it done and bring it to you tonight." Saul said picking up the papers and heading to his quarters to review pilots rosters.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 Earth Date: May 2****nd****, 2230**

Alien war 8months and 30 days

Caprica City, Caprica

Secretary of Education Laura Roslin walked toward the Colonial Executive Building from her morning walk. She entered the glass doors and flashed her electronic ID card and gained access to the elevator. Adar called and wanted to see her and made sure beforehand that his wife's car was not in the parking lot. She either had no suspicion, or didn't really care much at all about the affair that was going on between them. They were planning on meeting at the Oceanic Hotels that night which overlooked the Neptonic Ocean.

The elevator stopped and the door opened to the eighth floor of the building, which was mostly reserved for top executive officials and Quarom delegates. Governors and Priests sometimes would come up here to discuss matters with other officials. President Adar had an office up here, as he had offices at several executive locations including Colonial Fleet HQ at Picon, Tauron Federal Offices as well as reserved offices for other buildings if needed. He carried his paperwork with him most of the time.

She reached a door that read "President's Office" and opened it. She saw President Adar sitting at his desk, reading some memos and papers regarding the war.

"Hey Laura you can lock the door." He said as she closed and locked the door. He grabbed another office chair and pulled it next to him. She sat down and they shared a kiss. He pulled a folder that she recognized as the teacher's strike. Laura somewhat despised the UTU (United Teachers Union) for their greed, usually caused by their leader; Eric Zarek whom she knew as the uncle to terrorist and wanted scavenger Tom Zarek. She saw some of the pictures of protests outside of high schools she visited such as Delphi Union, Mistra Heights North and Athens Sierra.

Being Secretary of Education also meant she was not part of the union; she liked the old leader Mr. Stoneson who sadly got assassinated by the Sparticos Mafia. She believed Zarek had something to do with it, and many conspiracy theories surrounded it, but none had the support of any evidence.

"Old frakker doesn't know a gods damn thing about the union. Wouldn't surprise me if he was a terrorist like his nephew." Adar said. He believed the Sparticos Mafia, a well known crime syndicate originating from Scorpia and spreading its influence throughout the Twelve Colonies since even before the Cylons were created. They even removed the Hal'tha'la crime syndicate from Tauron and Caprica. They had assassinated a Tauron minster over 60yrs ago which made headlines throughout the Colonies, evidence was found that he had connections to Hal'tha'la and was using his connections to them to wage a mafia war across the Colonies. They later used a dirty bomb to kill most of the mafia leaders. The Cylon War sped up their collapse even more.

"What actions are you recommending here?" Roslin asked

"A while ago, I was thinking about military action. I have reconsidered though as I want you to talk to the union and the striking teachers and maybe reach a settlement. My main focus is the war."

"When I used to teach at Nithrum High in Delphi, one of the students brought me a science fiction novel called Black Ninemonth. It was about a bunch of kids from Aeleron stumbling upon a spaceship in a cornfield. The farmers didn't like the aliens so they drove them away with pitchforks for damaging their fields." Laura laughed

"I have noticed that most of the alien life we fought in scifi movies and in children's novels was not very competent. The Little Yellow Men always got devastated by humans or other human groups. I remember watching The Terran Adventures as a kid of the Terran Eastern Alliance going against Raptos and Dragons in space and them being victorious. They had made up battlebases and starships

Battlestar Galactica- Starboard Flight Deck

"Hey Chief, wanna join us in pyramid, its officers against enlisted tonight." Kara said, tossing the ball over to Chief Tyrol.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few" He said looking at Kara's Viper MK IV.

"My bird will be fine, let's go." Kara said walking out. Chief Tyrol joined her and walked out toward the gym where there was a pyramid court. "Hey speaking of which, the Buccaneers are having a game tonight against the Aquileron Fishtails. Commander Adama managed to buy us some tickets for senior officers and enlisted. You up for it?"

"Of course, anything else interesting planetside?"

"There are a lot of clubs and bars to check out. Soon as we get into casuals, we'll hit up The Quadrangle, it's the best club nearest to my apartment in Caprica City. Wanna have a real fraking good time, Club Obsessions is really good."

"What goes on there?"

"It's a swap club. You single right?"

"Yeah, I haven't had a woman in years. Not since my ex fiancée Julia." He said, being interested in swap clubs and meets since we was a teenager. He read the issues of Nympho Magazine that had details on the best clubs in all of Caprica. It fascinated him that people would go there and engage in group sex a lot. He never heard of Obsessions, he thought it must have been fairly new.

"Well, they enjoy single guys and girls. They have cheap rooms, tubs, movies and wireless screens to watch sports. Only catch is its byod. Also, do not let anyone know you're with the Fleet. They have CFID there sometimes too to catch recruits and initial training people on them frakking three day passes. "She said as they finally reached the gym.

Tyrol could see some of the enlisted he knew, Cally Henderson, Sgt. Hadrian, and the officers; Lt. Agathon, Capt. Adama and Major Spencer.

They all started to play for a bit with mixed teams, before finally moving to officers vs. enlisted. Tyrol managed to score some good points against the officers as a few other crew members watched. He did notice Commander Adama walk in but he gave the signal everyone to carry on as a crew member nearby almost called everyone to attention.

"Attention on deck!" He heard Adama yell, as everyone stopped in their tracks, and turned around to face the door. Tyrol was shocked to see a tall man with graying hair stand next to Adama. He spotted the Admiral insignia. He tried to put the familiar face together.

It was Admiral Nagala of the Battlestar Atlantia. He had heard rumor before he was going to show up but all enlisted would spread rumors of bigwig officers and admirals showing up on Battlestars and planetside bases. He only met one a long time ago back at the Gemini Fleet Training Range during his days as a deckhand, and he just happened to sit down at the same table during chow. It was not a bad experience, Admiral Wirzen taught him a lot and shared stories about the First Cylon War, and that he was an engineer in his enlisted days.

He quickly paid attention though to the conversation between Nagala and Adama, and watched as Nagala faced the teams now standing at attention.

"I need the following crew members: Lieutenant Thrace, Major Spencer, and Captain Adama." He said in a deep voice. Tyrol was surprised his voice was actually clearer than others his age. After the officers left, some of the other enlisted started to leave and get ready for trips to Caprica.

Kara, Spencer, and Adama all walked with Nagala toward a conference room near Commander Adama's quarters. Nagala told everyone to sit down, and Nagala passed out folder, which Major Spencer opened. There were copies of several photos.

"That looks like one oversized wireless tower." Kara said looking at one of the pictures. It looked like two Colonial style wireless towers being joined in the center by a cylinder, with solar panels on the tops and going to the sides of the middle.

"These photos were taken two weeks ago by a Raptor that misjumped into this area. This system has never been explored before and is well outside of the Cryannus Cluster sector of Colonial space. There is speculation that this is some type of communications beacon in use by the aliens."

"Honestly this does not look like the aliens typical design." Major Spencer said, looking at the gray coating reminiscent of old Colonial satellites. "This looks like something we would build."

"We can debate on who built this later on. The Raptor detected faint energy reading and radiation emanating from the object. We know that it's in orbit at the S3 Point around the star, and that there is an asteroid field close to the object. Thrace and Spencer will pilot Stealthstars. Adama, you will be in charge of a Viper Wing and hide in the asteroid field. Adama, I want you to select the pilots for the wing. The Stealthstars have greater amount of detection equipment, so they will collect all data on the artifact.


End file.
